Mo didn’t go after some of those young SS’s? Who’s to say he didn’t get shot down by the other teams? That is my guess as to how it played out. We know Atlanta wanted pitching first, which they got for Escobar. No telling what the Angels are doing, but you don’t hear much about Woods being available. And I get the feeling TB covets Brignac moreso then other teams would. Wanting a bold move, and a young SS is one thing. Smartly going about any such deal is another.

I’m going to wait and see what happens with 2B. If we can get a quality player there, I think we’ve gone a long ways in improving the team.

It was probably difficult for Mo to trade one of his favorite players. He did beat Orta to the bag you know. Besides, Worrell must be at least 50 by now.

and……….you can take the right risk now and then…..but not at every position……..as mentioned in other post, I don’t see Cards getting very creative at 2b either

I like this deal. From a value standpoint I think Mo improved the team without giving up anything that would have been useful to the team this year. In addition, it’s a short term commitment, and I’m a big fan of that. Mo continues to add payroll flexibilty to the roster. Now with the money saved so far this offseason, I would very much like to see a more expensive/significant upgrade to the roster somewhere. I’m not sure that is possible with the options on the market currently though. But before you view this low risk move, we need to see what else is done this off season. Judging it solely on it’s own merits it appears to be a good deal, and it has the potential to allow for more to happen this offseason.

As to it being another short term fix, that is true, and long term fixes are always better than a short term fix. However, perhaps, this offseason it is necessary for the short term, and next year is the long term answer. Just off the top of my head, next season the cards will have 11mil for Glaus, 6.5 for Greene, 7.5 for Pinero, 2.5 for franklin, whatever arb salary Ankiel wins, 4 for kennedy if we can’t move him, all coming off the books. A lot of those holes have the potential to be plugged by the system. 3rd will be filled by Freese/wallace/craig, perhaps one of those guys moves to OF which fills another hole. Boggs/Garcia/Todd could fill the pinero hole, and the bullpen is full of young arms. That leaves about 30 mil available next offseason, without trading from any of our positions of strength. There is a lot of flexibility being built into the roster. It looks like Mo is preparing the franchise to leverage that opportunity, while still improving the team in the short run. I’ve been very impressed with Mo to this point and trust his very capable abilities.

Mo isn’t Kenny Williams. Most GMs aren’t.

I think it’s better to evaluate the need for a bold move after all the moves are done. If the bold move is to swap Ankiel and Kennedy for some stud 2nd baseman or to acquire a great pitcher, we won’t be complaining.

I’m waiting to see the total picture.

Obviously this guy has more upside than the recent occupants of the position and that’s always intriguing. When you match up his life time ops with other shortstops he compares very well and he could improve that considerably in a different ball park. I’ll take it on faith that his glove is as good as advertised because, frankly, although I must have seen him play many times, I don’t remember him.
Finally I find his back ground very interesting. As Hinkster said though he sounds like a guy that TLR will just hate and it’s unlikely that both will be here in a couple of years.
By the way I’m an older codger and have know idea who Spicoli is and how he relates to Khalil. Can anybody enlighten me?

Had to disagree with chuckb’s complaint that JMo is not being bold enough. That he is going about a good team instead of taking some risks that could result in potentially great team. If Khalil has a monster 2009, would the Cards even pony up the money to resign his if it is Renteria money? They have always scrimped on middle infielders for whatever reason.

However, I think it’s a bit premature to dog JMo. His best signing last season was Kyle Lohse, a huge bargain at the 11th hour. JMo has been hoarding salary and prospects. If he unloads Kennedy, we’ll still need a 2nd baseman. There is also a need for a starter although the team could go with McClellan holding down a rotation spot until Carpenter is ready (hopefully ready). How will JMo use the available teams to fill these positions? Let’s see how it goes down. The hotstove season becomes painfully long when your team misses the playoffs.

To be sure, this was not a “bold” move….it was, however, a smart move…and more importantly its a move that shows Mo can play with the big boys…i find it hard to believe that with all the teams looking for SS’s, towers couldn’t have found a better deal than this if he had wanted to(i know, i depends on the ptbnl)…that to me says that Mo got in there an quietly and quickly convinced towers this was the best deal…it solved what most fans percieved was the cards biggest weakness, and did it cheaply…that is good business no matter how you look at it

meant to type “Eck would make most forget Edgar”…..as in, upon the signing, I thought Eck was a perfect fit for Stl and would become very popular and successful

that this analysis is really based on very little evidence. Of course everybody would love to see “bold moves” for young cost controlled players, but come on, i’m pretty sure every GM would love to do that. Only Mo and other GMs know what was available. From the sounds of the rumors, it seems like he tried to make a deal involving ludwick for yunel escobar, but the braves were only willing to give up kelly johnson. No deal. Good move by Mo (i like how his nickname is the same as the abbreviation for missouri). If I were to characterize his approach to building a roster, i would say he tries to maintain flexibility. that’s been the key word since day one. I think that gives the farm system the best opportunity to show its worth and keeps the payroll low over the medium term. Plus, in this case, Atlanta needed pitching and decided to deal from a surplus of young SS to get it. Hence, when lilbridge was traded, it sent a signal to the cards to pull the trigger on this trade.

I’m not going to go ahead and give this trade my blessing because any and every trade can come back to haunt a team. There’s just too much uncertainty. However, I’m encouraged by what i’ve seen from the Cardinals’ front office in terms of setting the team up to make the said “bold moves” when it’s absolutely necessary. In terms of what a “well-run” organization does, I think this platonic model of a baseball team wouldn’t pay clunky, rusty parts (joel and adam kennedy, i’m looking at you) inordinate amounts of money and would find out ways to streamline. That’s what MO is doing. I’m quite pleased with that strategy and I believe it’s the one well-run organizations should adopt.

it seems to me that Greene IS a young high end prospect. First, he is young and was rushed to the majors by S.D. Most developing players would have just been up from AAA for a couple of years at most. But S.D. was opening Petco Park and wanted to create excitement in the fan base. They rushed him and a kid named Burroughs and in the process may well have put way too much pressure on Kahlil. What if moving to a much better baseball environment spurs him on to his potential. Most likely he will bat seventh. He’ll be following much much better players in the lineup and his performance will not make or break the team. If he gets off to a good start, he may well be open (like Lohse) to extending his contract. If he performs to his potential he could hold down the position for years. Only giving up players that will probably not break into our lineup seems like a good gamble. I think Moe wins big time on this one considering the alternatives. Yes maybe Furcal has a much greater upside, but if he is on the disabled list he is not effective.

seems to be setting a pace on the SS market. If that’s the case, this market is absurd.

The numbers that has been rumored into Furcal’s next deal seem to be just as absurd. The years and amount for that big of a risk is clearly something we shouldn’t be getting into.

Who else is there that would give us a more long term solution while costing us either money, or pieces of our glut (rhp, of)?

We’re not getting HRam, Rollings, Tulo, etc. Trading for JJ would be near impossible. Escobar is avail, and we’ve been rumored in talks, but we have no idea the cost and Ludwick or Ludwick + may be considered bold, but wouldn’t be an automatic win in the trade.

You can’t judge more of the same until you see what Iz gets..

I would much rather not be bold and consider this a temp fix than pay Furcal or Edgar and be committed there.

Can someone explain why Khalil Greene cannot be the long-term? Sure he could still suck, but if he does well, I would think an extension is in order, unless 50 XBH from your SS is unnecessary.

Escobar isn’t getting traded, none of the Angels shorstops are any good and let’s not even start on the extremely overrated Brent Lillibridge.